Tablets vs. Scanners

To accurately digitize points from a paper source document, you need a digitizing tablet. If you do not have a tablet, you can use a scanner and import an image into Didger instead.

 

What is a Digitizing Tablet?

A digitizing tablet consists of a flat drawing area and a pointing device that can be either a mouse-type pointer (puck) or a pen-type pointer (stylus). Tablets use a high-resolution internal coordinate system over which you place your paper document. You position the pointer on the paper document and digitize information directly. When you click the pointer, Didger converts the coordinates from tablet coordinates to project coordinates. In this way, you can obtain a precise and accurate representation of your data on the computer.

 

There are 32-bit and 64-bit WINTAB drivers available for most digitizing tablets. If you do not have a driver for your tablet, contact the tablet manufacturer to see if they have the drivers available. Tablet and driver installation can vary depending on the manufacturer and model of your tablet. Refer to the users guide for your tablet to determine the correct installation procedures. The bit version (32-bit or 64-bit) of your tablet must match the bit version of Didger. If you have a 64-bit version of Didger, you must have a 64-bit version of the tablet driver for the tablet to communicate effectively with Didger.

 

The advantage to using a tablet is that large paper documents are easier to manipulate on large tablets. Tablets also require less memory than large images.

 

Scanners

A scanner converts a paper document into an image. Once the image is imported into Didger, you can calibrate it and then you can digitize information using your computer's mouse. Scanners use their own software to scan the document into an image file. The advantage of using a scanner over a tablet is that once the image is scanned, the external hardware is no longer needed to digitize the information off the paper document.

 

 

See Also

Why Do You Calibrate the Digitizing Tablet?

New

Didger Object Types